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Ancient Celtic Druids base their holidays on the wheel of the year.

The Celtic year was divided into 2 halves the light and the dark. Within The halves, there would be 4 fire festivals. Samhain was the name of the fire festival that marked the beginning of the dark half of the year.

During Samhain, it is said that the world of the gods and goddesses is made visible, and spirits from the otherworld return to earth. To keep these spirits happy the Celts would put offerings and sacrifices outside of the town for their enjoyment.

The people would wear skins and costumes of animals to confuse the spirits from knowing who was who in case they had a beef with someone.

Bonfires would be made and the shamanic druid priests would give psychic readings to the people.

Often during this time monsters and demonic spirits would come by and kidnap and kill people.

Phere was Phookah which is a shape-shifting creature typically rabbit-like or horse-like.

There was Lady Gyn who was a headless woman who chased people around with her trusty demonic black pig.

The Dullahan which you might recognize better as the headless horseman would carry his head and ride a black horse with deep red eyes. If you saw him that was a death omen.

Then There was the faery host which was a group of hunter fairy spirits who kidnapped people.

Generally, people feared the spirits, and for good reason. But as time went on people became enthralled with spirits, the occult, Gnosticism, Wicca, and so on.

In the Middle Ages Dumb supper came about where people would leave all the doors and windows open for the spirits to come in and take part in the feast, children would play games to entertain the spirits and the family would update the invisible visitors on how life was

Mumming came out of that, which was caroling door to door on Samhain to entertain the spirits who were participating in dumb supper. In return, cakes would be given to those carolers.

Put it all together and you can see where we get our modern secular "holiday" Halloween.

I got a great show for you today I'll tell you about the Druids of California, I'll give you the stories of Dyer Lane and its true history, We'll look into the Esoteric Fraternity up in Applegate and check in on the Bohemian Grove near San Francisco and then we'll travel all the way up to Seattle for a mass murder story. Plus some other stuff.  Sit back relax and get ready to learn.

Every time I have driven around or through Placerville there's a strange pillar in the middle of the street with what looks to be a flame on the top.

One day while driving by, I noticed on the plaque that it says Druids of California.

I don't know about you but I had never heard of a druid but it sounded kinda weird. I didn't think much about it after that but then I heard a preacher mention druids one day and I remembered that pillar. I still never looked into it, I didn't care all that much. Just a passing curiosity, you know.  I bet at least one of you has been curious if you have seen it, and those that haven't are at least slightly intrigued now that I mentioned it.

So, I spent a few hours researching all I could for you, and here's the story.

The pillar is a memorial to a guy who is the man who successfully brought druidism to the state of California. His name was Frederick Sieg. A German who immigrated to the States and lived in St. Louis where he was introduced to the ideas of druidism.

He eventually caught gold fever and moved to California, he slaved away as a miner for a little bit until he settled over in Hangtown "Placerville".

In Placerville, he made it his mission to bring The United Ancient Druid Order to fruition in California. Two others had tried, once in Sacramento and once in San Francisco but there wasn't much interest, and Sacramento in particular had a big fire that spread the potential members in all directions.

Frederick did well and got a whole, 2 people on board and soon more until there was enough demand that he made 2 more "groves" which is the druid’s name for their meeting place, One in Coloma and another in San Francisco.

Now, The pillar monument was installed back in 1926, thirty-eight years after Frederick's death.

On the Pillar, there is a druidic emblem which in their words "shows a flaming pyre surmounted by a crossed spear and a long-handled sickle. Oaks, Mistletoe, Daffodil, and the all-seeing eye in the triangle.

So that answers what the heck that thing is, but it begs the question...

What is a druid?

Well, that depends on 10 billion different things. Druidism isn't like other religions where they all believe the same general thing with some differences within denominations based on theology. Druids are like snowflakes, no two are alike,

There are even differences in whether it’s a religious druid or a social druid.

But generally speaking, Druids are a secret society like the Freemasons. They have very similar rituals and beliefs and can be religious or more social,  based on the grouping.

The kind that the pillar in Placerville memorializes is more of the social club type. They are like the Rotary Club in a way from what I was able to figure out.

But there are very different kinds of druids. Historically they were cannibalistic mass murderers, in fact, The Burning Man over in Nevada kind of takes after a practice the druids would do. Druids would build a massive cage in the form of a man out of wicker and fill it with people to sacrifice and would light them all on fire. They would grab as many criminals as they could but if they needed to throw innocent people in there to fill it up, they would.

Modern religious Druidism is essentially New Age and Wiccan most are pantheists meaning they believe their gods and goddesses are in everything. Many believe in reincarnation similar to the Hindu but in particular they believe souls are not unique and that once a person dies they are reborn in the other world and then when they die in the other world they are born in this world. whether that be as a human or some kind of animal.

For example, they have records of a guy named Tuan Mac Coriall who they say lived 100 years a man, 300 a deer, 300 a boar, 300 a bird, and 300 a salmon... but other records show he lived 100 years a man, 20 a hog, 30 a stag, 100 an eagle and 30 a fish.

Simply put, Druidism in terms of ancient times was a pagan religion, very shamanic and secretive, it takes about 12 to 15 years to become a druid and they have hardly any verifiable history. Druids were written about in literature in medieval times both in a positive light and a negative light.

historically, Julius Caesar is quoted as saying that the druids were in charge of public and private sacrifices they refused to pay taxes and were pacifists.

The Druids say they built the Stonehenge but there's no telling if that's true or not.

But let's go back to that pillar.

These druids from what I could tell, have nothing to do with the religious type.

1781 in London a social club for men formed and was called The Ancient Druidic Order. They operated secretly as the other clubs of those days did. As time went on, The organization split in two creating The United Ancient Druidic Order in 1833. This offshoot then made its way to Boston and then to St. Louis where Frederick Sieg became a member.

The religious Druids claim Merlin as one of theirs. as you could figure.

The social club kind of druid from England has its own celebrity, Sir Winston Churchill.

Now you know what that pillar is, who it memorializes, The History and distinction of which kind of Druids. But one thing I should point out is that just because there is a distinction doesn't mean a person can't be a member of both. Late at night, it is said you can find druids gathering at the pillar.

Some of you guys send me things to check out, read, and add to my enormous list of people and topics to cover in future podcasts. I do this show on my downtime which there isn't much of which is why I don't post episodes often or keep a schedule. Well, Back when I was doing the episode on E. Clampus Vitus I was messaged about a group called The Esoteric Fraternity, I added it to my list and chose it for one of the stories for this episode.

So... What the heck is The Esoteric Fraternity?

Some would say it was and is some kind of new-age Christian science sex cult. Members of course would argue so let’s dive on in.

There was once a man named Hiram Erastus Butler. He was in the Union army during the Civil War building roads and bridges not for the cause of the North. He was stationed at a hospital where he met a gal and they got married. As soon as she bore him two children he went to get some milk at the store and must have forgotten that he had 2 kids and a wife because they never saw him again.

He worked at a sawmill for a little while until he lost 3 of his fingers, one for each of the people he deserted I guess.

After this, he went into the woods for 14 years. some records say only 40 days so I'm not sure which. Either way, he appeared in Boston Announcing that he was a prophet of Occult Wisdom and he was now calling himself the Adhy Apaka The Hellenic Ethnomedon

He was a student of the Hermetic Brotherhood of Luxor and also Pascal Beverly Randolf who taught sex magick rituals for a higher consciousness and spiritual knowledge, which is also what inspired famed occultist Aleister Crowley.

Mr. Butler eventually came to the conclusion that semen retention and celibacy were the way to a heighte